Jonathan Ferrey/Getty Images for NASCARWhen Johnny Benson (23) slipped below the yellow line to pass Travis Kvapil (6) for second place in a truck race at Daytona in 2007, NASCAR took no action to penalize Benson. (Jack Sprague in the No. 60 truck won the race.) One season later, however, Regan Smith was stripped of an apparent victory in a Sprint Cup race at Talladega for doing the same thing. Recollections of these two rulings resurfaced in Saturday night's Budweiser Shootout at Daytona International Speedway.

By Reid Spencer

Sporting News NASCAR Wire Service

(February 14, 2011)

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla.—Goodbye, yellow-line rule.

NASCAR should give drivers room to race when they’re speeding toward the checkered flag with points, prestige and pesos on the line.

Denny Hamlin should have gotten a trophy and big check, instead of a black flag, after crossing the finish line first in Saturday night’s Budweiser Shootout.

That’s wishful thinking, I’m afraid, in light of NASCAR’s recent insistence on strict enforcement of a rule that became absolute only after Regan Smith beat Tony Stewart to the finish line at Talladega in October 2008.

Yes, at restrictor-plate racetracks, NASCAR repeatedly warns drivers not to pass below the yellow line that separates the apron from the racing surface. The penalty for doing so is a black flag.

Before Smith beat Stewart, however, there was a widespread understanding in the garage that the yellow-line rule wouldn’t come into play when drivers were racing toward the checkered flag on the final lap.

NASCAR was complicit in that gentleman’s agreement. In explaining why NASCAR took no action after Johnny Benson dropped below the yellow line to pass Travis Kvapil for second place in the last 100 yards of the February 2007 truck race at Daytona, NASCAR spokesman Ramsey Poston said simply, “When drivers can see the checkered flag, you can get all you can get.”

At Talladega, Smith got all he could get and arrived at the finish line first. As the cars roared off Turn 4 and into the tri-oval on the last lap, Smith ducked to the inside of Stewart and dipped below the yellow line when Stewart moved to block him.

What Smith actually got for his trouble was a black flag and demotion to the 18th finishing position as the last driver on the lead lap.

It was a bad call then, and it’s a bad call now, as the ramifications from that decision continue to haunt NASCAR. Drivers learned quickly from that Talladega race. The next time the Sprint Cup Series came to Talladega, Brad Keselowski moved to the inside of race leader Carl Edwards as the cars approached the flagstand on the final lap.

Edwards blocked, but Keselowski held his line. Edwards sailed into the catch fence. Eight spectators were injured. Keselowski won the race.

Less than three months later, at Daytona, Kyle Busch tried to block Tony Stewart off the final corner—a fraction of a second too late. Stewart held his line and won the race. Busch finished 14th in a massive pileup on the frontstretch.

In those two races, Keselowski and Stewart were faced with three choices, all unacceptable. Either 1) go below the yellow line to avoid contact, draw a black flag and lose the race, 2) hold the position and cause a wreck, or 3) back out of the throttle and concede the race.

That brings us to the mature, prudent choice Hamlin made Saturday night, when he timed his slingshot move to the inside of Ryan Newman to perfection. But when Newman moved to the inside with the checkered flag just two seconds away, Hamlin, knowing he was likely to draw a penalty, dropped below the yellow line to avoid launching Newman toward the fence.

Hamlin’s decision was tempered by the knowledge that the Budweiser Shootout is an exhibition race with no championship points at stake. He took his demotion to 12th place like a man.

In Sunday’s Daytona 500, with NASCAR’s most coveted trophy on the line, would he make a different choice?